This blog is dedicated to all The Little People in New Albany. Always remember The Freedom to Speak no matter what the situation. We are not going to give these Freedoms away. No one shall take these Rights from Us. The moment we begin to see the personal agendas in City Government, We should speak out. We now have a voice. We can make a difference on the way our City Government operates.
My philosophy is Common Sense and seeing things as they are, and doing things as they should be done.

Local officials to engage public with regional forumsto discuss the future of local government in Indiana

The City of New Albany and the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns will host a regional meeting to discuss property taxes, the future of local government and solutions that will make a difference in how local services are paid for in Indiana. Citizens, business leaders, and local government officials in surrounding counties are encouraged to attend.

This is the first in a series of 16 state-wide Hometown Gatherings to discuss reducing reliance on property taxes, alternatives to funding local government, and how local officials can provide the most efficient, effective government possible.

Media is invited and may contact Andrea Johnson for more information, or go to The Indiana Association of Cities and Towns (IACT) is a coalition of municipal officials who seek to improve the quality of life in Indiana and has 475 cities and towns as members.

IACT advocates for municipalities as the official voice of municipal government in Indiana, and promotes good government through education, training and leadership.

Freedom Of Speech would like to thank Andrea Johnson at Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, for all her help and information she has supplied us with over the past year. And we also look forward to her continued correspondence in the future.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Elected officials strongly desire to be identified as "persons of principle." The problem is everyone isn't motivated by the same principles. As proven by current Mayor James Garner last week.

Freedom of Speech has been waiting for the last 7 to 10 days to see if Mayor Garner has the honesty and integrity to give credit where credit is due. Everyone in the community knows that the real credit should go to Valla Ann for saving the Greenway Project. Do the right thing and give Valla Ann Bolovschak the credit she earned and the credit she deserves for saving the project.

Be a man and do the right thing!

Why couldn't Mayor Garner been gracious enough to tell the local newspaper the name of the person who really did the hard work?

A true community leader would have done so.

We have waited for Mayor Garner to demonstrate honorable character and be a man of principles.

Lets look at the real facts, and you decide who deserves the real credit.

Last Thursday afternoon, Valla Ann Bolovschak paid a visit to Scott Woods at the City County Building before the Ohio River Greenway Commission Steering Committee meeting because she was very concerned about the looming deadline for the Corp. of Enginners. She had been down to see Scott twice about the matter of the status of the paperwork and he blew her off. She had been e-mailing Matt Schuler at the Corp. of Engineers and he told her he couldn’t get Scott to call him back either. When she saw Scott that Thursday, she asked him where the paperwork was and he told her that Steve Dilk at INDOT had it. She asked him to please come to the steering committee meeting at 4pm and he told her that either he or the mayor would be there.

Valla Ann was very suspect that the paperwork was not in Indianapolis.

At 4PM she attended the steering committee meeting and called Steve Dilk at INDOT from her cell phone and he told her he had not spoken to Scott Wood in over a month.

During that phone call, and several she made from home the following day, she ascertained what paperwork needed to be completed and had Steve Dilk send it to her and to Scott Wood on Friday via e-mail.

She kept the steering committee in the loop as well as Matt Schuler at the Corp.

What they needed at that point was a contract between the state and the City of New Albany. The contract was sent to Scott Wood late Friday afternoon. During the course of that day, she was on the phone to INDOT for hours, communicating her concerns and contacting the people who she have made relationships at INDOT, DNR and with the Greenway Foundation, which she serves on the board of as well, to get all the help she could to push this paperwork through.

On Monday morning, she drove to Indianapolis and went straight to INDOT and met with Steve Dilk. He told her the Mayor had dropped by and had gone to lunch and would be back later. Steve Dilk had sent Valla Ann the list of contact people Friday, those they needed signatures from, so she spent the rest of the afternoon determining several things;

A. If they were in townB. Where there office wasC. Who had signature power for them in the event that they weren’t in Indianapolis

These people are scattered between the North Tower, the South Tower and the State House.

Valla Ann met with secretaries, aides and deputies. She kept a list of people because she didn’t want to have to recreate the wheel, should she ever have to go through this ordeal again.

Tuesday morning she went back to INDOT at 9am and met with Steve Dilk. He had gotten the first signature they needed, John Morton. She told him she would get the rest. And she stated she would not leave Indy. without getting all the required signatures.

The contract required another form, State Form 41221 which needed to be signed off by three people, an agency official, the budget agency and the attorney General.

Over the course of the next several hours she ran paperwork around the state buildings. She was trying to acquire the signatures required for this portion of what needed to be completed to get a check cut. This took her approximately 3 hours as she ran into brick walls everywhere she went.

Upon obtaining the signatures, she then went back to the INDOT offices and starting tracking down the rest of the stuff needed, routing numbers from Seymour, the federal funding tracking numbers for the budget department, etc.

Many different computers had to match up with the identical information on several different forms required to take the paperwork to the budget offices, including a SPA claim voucher which was e-mailed electronically to Scott Wood in New Albany, who signed it after much phone prodding, and e-mailed it back. Had the Mayor been in the building, there would have been no need to e-mail the voucher to Scott.

When they finally got the computers to match up, Pam Cook (Assistant Accounts Payable Supervisor, Division of Accounting & Control) and Valla Ann walked the paperwork back over to the State House and submitted it in time (they had a free hour to spare) to get a check cut the following morning, by 11am. Pam said she would come get the check the second it was ready and meet her at her office the following morning.

Valla Ann was elated.

She called Scott Wood and he told her that the Mayor was on the way back to Indianapolis and that he would be picking up the check.

She then phoned Matt Schuler to let him know what was going on and to make sure that he stayed on top of the matter. She phoned Phil Hendershot and let him know they were out of the woods and drove home to New Albany.

The following afternoon Valla Ann returned to Indianapolis to make sure that somebody was there in time to get the check, and then went to the Greenways Foundation meeting at 4:30.

If Mayor Garner had been in Indianapolis, he wasn’t at INDOT or the State House the entire time she was there. According to Steve Dilk, Mayor Garner dropped off the paperwork and left.

Had Valla Ann not taken the initiative to visit Scott Wood on the 14th, Call Steve Dilk and INDOT that afternoon from the steering committee meeting, made the phone calls to determine what needed to happen and drive to Indianapolis and walked the paperwork though, New Albany would have lost it's Greenway funding, a $2.4 million dollar riverfront upgrade this year and with no guarantee of ever recouping the opportunity of re-obtaining it...

We would like to ask Mayor Garner what part did he play in saving the Greenway Project? Other than taking the contract up and picking the check up the following day. And Mr. Wood is this how you do the citizens business? And it's obvious you did drop the ball as stated.

Freedom Of Speech would like to also thank the following people for their participation in helping Ms. Bolovschak in obtaining the necessary credentials for the Greenway Funding Project;

WEIGHTS/MEASURES:.............J.Moreillon..........$28,834......32............$1400.00...............$1549.10..........Jim is also paid by county. Current salary IS $11,240. He onlyreceives $300.00 longevity as they consider him working 1/4 of his time.

BUILDING COMMISSIONER:..............B.Lenz..................$34,851........10.............$1000.00............$1106.50................R.Bruner............$22,890.......10mos................0........................0......................R.Hartman........$42,132........10mos................0........................0.....

Friday, September 22, 2006

Enclosed please find the amended salary ordinance. All position have been taken back to the 2005 salary status for each employee. This should be the ordinance approved by the council at the September 22, 2005 meeting. This ordinance has to be approved by September 30 for Second Class Cities. Although the salary and benfit line items show an increase of 2.5%, those appropriations can be lowered after the approval of budgets.

I have tried to think of an incentive for people who will not get any increase in 2006. The county has a longevity program which exempts part-time and elected officials. The County Council approves the longevity each year, although the following figures have been used since Steve Sharp was on the County Council. The schedule follows:

Step O...Less than 1 year....-O-Step 1...1 year of service.....$200Step 2...2 years of service...$400Step 3...5 years of service...$700Step 4...10 years of service..$1,000Step 5...15 years of service..$1,200

The longevity is paid the 2nd pay in Feburary and an employee has to have a 1 year anniversary by Jan. 31 of the payout year. (i.e., someone who starts work on February 1 would have to wait 2 years to receive a longevity pay.) Of course, this is just a suggestion, and you may want to make these payouts lower, or you may not want to do it at all.

Freedom Of Speech would like to ask how convenient this is. That the "Longvity Ordinance" comes back out again right before an election year!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

CHDO again has left the Citizens of New Albany with more questions than answers. Is this project a waste of public money? We think so. But now we have even more questions after taking a ride over on Linden Meadows.

Freedom Of Speech would like to ask:

1. Why is CHDO and the City continuing to work on houses in Linden Meadows with two lawsuits pending?

2. Where are they getting the money to pave the road? Who did the paving? Who did the concrete curbs? Who received the lowest bid to work on these houses? Doesn't the public have a right to know since it is taxpayers money...city, state or federal?

3. Why hasn't anyone been upset when Adam Dickey and John Miller didn't tell the truth at the Sewer Board back in February when they said that the case had not been appealed? When in fact, it was in the process of being done?

4. Why hasn't the Sewer Board, the Planning Commission, or City Council put a stop to spending taxpayers money on Linden Meadows until the lawsuit is completed?

5. Why are the Linden Meadows houses listed on the Multiple Listing Site when John Miller stated various times publicly that there were "250 people on a waiting list" to buy these houses? Where did these 250 families go? Was John not telling the truth?

6. Who stated that these houses are not in a flood plan? Is it not an arm of the city that makes that determination? Sounds like conflict of interest, wouldn't you say?

7. By law, how can these houses be advertised for sale and CHDO not inform potential buyers that there is a lawsuit pending? Are local banks being made aware of this? National City Bank stated to us that they would NOT give anyone a loan under those circumstances. If the city and CHDO are so concerned about low income home buyers, wouldn't you think they would be concerned enough to inform potential homebuyers about the lawsuits?

Freedom Of Speech thinks how hypocritical that CHDO list the Linden Meadows houses as being next to a "Community Park"! There is no park. Yet, the folks in and around the area were chided for stating that they enjoyed having a park in the area and it increased home values. Obviously stating that the homes are near a (non existent) park is an attempt to make the houses more desirable. Gosh, imagine that!!!The hypocrisy is deafening.

We also highly recommend that Mr. Baylor, Mr. Wimp and Mr. Ted Fullmore purchase one of these properties since you all feel it is such a great investment.

Find us a low income family and show them how easy it is to buy one of these homes.

With all the homes for sale in New Albany would you be "dumb enough" to purchase this home at this price?

Sunday, September 17, 2006

WHEREAS, this Common Council of the City of New Albany, Indiana, has previously adopted a policy to commit Economic Development Income Tax Funds to preserve the financial viability of the Sewer Utility; and,

WHEREAS, This Common Council of the City of New Albany, Indiana has approved the sale of millions of dollars in bonds for the renovation, construction, and operation of the sewage collection and treatment facilities in accordance with the provisions of IC 36-9-23 ("Act");

WHEREAS, This Common Council of the City of New Albany, Indiana, financed various improvement projects to keep its sewage works in compliance with the rules and regulations established by the Indiana Department of Enviromental Management, and the City has issued sewage works revenue bonds (collectively, "Bonds") to finance said projects; and

WHEREAS, the legislative power of a city is vested in its legislative body. All powers and duties of a city that are legislative in nature shall be exercised or performed by its legislative body.

WHEREAS, the fiscal body of New Albany has found it nexessary to provide broader oversight and implement additional controls to this entity of which commands extraordinary appropriations of money and financing:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL OF NEW ALBANY, INDIANA, AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. Pursuant to authority granted by IC 36-4-6-18 the New Albany Sewer board will submit an annual itemized budget for review to the ommon Council of New Albany no later than July 15th of each calendar year. All operational and project expenses will be included in presented budget.

Section 2. Pursuant to same the New Albany Sewer board will prepare and present detailed plans and preparations to the New Albany City Council for all Sewer project work to be initiated and completed inside the County of Floyd thirty days before starting up. Contractor selection and finalized construction cost will be included in report.

Section 3.Pursuant to IC 36-4-6-21 the New Albany Sewer board will provide bi-annual documentated progress reports to the New Albany City Council regarding agreements with the Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA) and all amended "Consent Decree" regulation. These reports will be presented to the Common Council on July 15th and Dec 15th respectively.

SO ORDAINED BY THIS COMMON COUNCIL THIS_______DAY OF _____________,2006.

_____________________JEFF GAHAN, PresidentNew Albany Common Council

Attest:_________________________Marcey Wisman, City Clerk

CERTIFICATE OF PRESENTATION TO THE MAYORThe undersigned hereby certifies that the ordinance set forth hereinabove was presented by me as the duly elected New Albany City Clerk to the Mayor of the City of New Albany this ________day of_____________,2006.

APPROVAL BY MAYORThe Ordinance set forth hereinabvove was accepted and approved by me as Mayor of the City of New Albany, Indiana, this __________day of ________________2006.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

The Sewer Board proposed raising the Sewer Office Manager's Salary to $1300 - bi- weekly. This is a 33.5% raise. Again I have heard from the multitudes so please find the sheets submitted in one of your budget hearings with all the non-union employees listed, with their length of service and their income. I'm just the messenger so don't assume my feelings on this sisution.

Also attached, please find the elected officials' salaries presented at one of your budget hearings. You did not respond when I indicted this had to be advertised for passage in September. Again, you have until December 31 to pass this ordiance. I would have to advertise and publish these salaries thirty (30) days before your last meeting in December which is long before December 31. Of course, you can do it in October or November.

* How is Kelly doing her job when delinquents are not being "actually" sought after?

* Silver Creek & Borden Tri County pay only sewer to New Albany at a higher rate than city.

* What determines a raise? Going above and beyond your required duties, being proactive instead of reactive. Kelly has not done her job in an efficent manner. Look at the billing errors and lack of customer service.

You do know what assume means Mrs. Garry? Never assume the taxpayer's will sit lightly with raising our sewer bills and handing out a raise to anyone employed in the Sewer Department.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

What we are facing is the very real possibility that a $2.4 million dollar "Riverfront Upgrade" could be lost to the City of New Albany due to the sheer ineptitude and negligence of our City Adminstration in doing their jobs to fill out the proper paper work to insure acquisition of Federal and State Funding we have already been awarded.

In 1999 a TE Grant was awarded the city and it is a portion of those funds $1.2 million, that Greenway Commission Member Ms. Valla Ann Bolovschak is currently in Indianapolis scrambling to find a way to get this funding transfered by this Wednesday, Sept. 20th deadline or very conceivably lose the Federal Match of $1.2 million.

Greenway Commission Members having been told by Mr. Scott Wood, that the paper work was in order. Thursday phoned INDOT during their last Steering Committee Meeting. In that call they discovered that the New Albany City Administration had apparently not been in touch with Indot for a month. And Sept. 20 is the deadline, end of the fiscal year for the Corp. of Engineers deadline looming ominously around the corner.

Once again we are facing another "City Administration" debaucle, of a 7 figure magnitude "WE CAN NOT STOMACH"...

If someone I know was in charge downtown right now, she wouldn't be able to fire you, Scott Wood, because she would have already done so!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Section 1. No political or municipal corporation in this State shall ever become indebted. in any manner or for any purpose to an amount, in the aggregate, exceeding two per centum on the value of the taxable property within such corporation, to be ascertained by the last assessment for State and county taxes, previous to the incurring of such indebtness; and all bonds or obligations, in excess of such amount, given by such corporations, shall be void: Provided, That in time of war, foreign invasion, or other great public calamity on petition of a majority of the property owners in number and value, within the limits of such corporation, the public authorities, in their disecretion, may incur obligations necessary for the public protection and defense to such amount as may be requested in such petition.

Freedom Of Speech would like to ask:

* Has Mr. Mayor been truthful with the taxpayers and City Council members concerning Scribner Place?

* Has Mr. Mayor mislead the Council again by witholding vital information?

* Has Mr. Mayor set the taxpayers up to foot the bill for Scribner Place?

* Has Mr. Mayor broken his campaign pledge: I will not put all of our eggs in one basket when it comes to Scribner Place?

* Has Mr. Mayor left the citizens with too many questions and not enough answers by not doing a feasibility study?

A true leader of New Albany would come out and say:

I have this great idea But...It bypasses the State Debt to Income Law. It is a risk but...Can the taxpayers and city benefit from this risk?

We truly need to ask ourselves is the "risk greater" than the need for Scribner Place?

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Attorney Greg Fifer does not see any problem with being the attorney for the Sewer Board while representing various developers in Floyd County. We here at Freedom of Speech happen to disagree.

Here are just a few of they reasons why:

The Thieneman Group (Don & Steve Thieneman) wanted to run a sewer pipe from the proposed Heritage Springs sewer treatment plant to Jersey Park Creek. This pipe would have run through several adjoining properties. The citizens settled with the Thieneman group after a three year battle. (source New Albany Tribune 3/10/06)

The Lafayette Landing Subdivision planned by developer Bob Lynn ran into problems with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission concerning drainage and erosion control plans as well as sewer related problems. The project was eventually tabled. (source New Albany Tribune 4/18/06)

The Daisy Lane Developers lost in their effort to build the Bridgewater Village condos. Many residents of the area had problems with this development. (source New Albany Tribune 5/19/06)

What do all of these developers have in common? They were all represented by Greg Fifer. How can he actually say that he does not see a conflict of interest?

With all of the sewer problems New Albany and Floyd County are having already, how can OUR Sewer Board Attorney represent the best interest of the citizens who sign his paycheck and represent the very developers we are fighting on many issues?

How many other "pies" does Mr. Fifer have his hands in?

Mr. Fifer was over heard saying that "I have to make a living". This was said to a private citizen when asked about the conflict of interest issue.

We have no problem with an individual making a living but we do have a problem with an attorney who represents both sides of an issue. Freedom of Speech questions the reasoning of the Sewer Board members when they hired this attorney.

It makes one want to ask, "Are you guys nuts?"

Our dear Mr. Fifer was in charge of placing liens on properties with uncollected sewer bills. This goes back to the Overton Administration. Yes, he was the Sewer Board Attorney then too.

There have been no sewer liens filed from November of 2005 until now. This was not even discovered until Ms. Valla Ann Bolovschak private citizen brought this up a year and half ago citing the lack of enforcement of the state statutes. Everyone should pay their fair share.

Mr. Fifer was very angry with members of the City Council who argued against raising the sewer bills for New Albany citizens. Why?

Of course he appears at most of the City Council meetings and speaks for several minutes per meeting. He is on a contractual contract, meaning he gets paid hourly. A guy has to make a living somehow.

Last but certainly not least is the Georgetown sewer treatment plant issue. There was a recent settlement of $800,000. Were we misled by articles in the New Albany Tribune that the New Albany taxpayers were owed $3,000,000 then $1,000,000?

After several discussions with the Georgetown City Operations Manager, and looking over the Georgetown Contract with New Albany, was Georgetown misled as well by Sewer Attorney Gref Fifer? Has it also cost the city by losing income from Georgetown? Also after reading several months' worth of Georgetown City Council meeting minutes, sewer board attorney Greg Fifer continued to state that Georgetown would receive sewer credits within the next few weeks.

Did he mislead them as well as us? Was he in this for financial gain? Again we ask, is this a conflict of interest? ABSOLUTELY!

Freedom of Speech would like to add that Mr. Fifer is not looking out for the best interest of the taxpayers of New Albany and the state of "crisis this city" finds itself in. We also agree with the statement that Ms. Bolovschak made at a recent City Council meeting. "It's what we don't know we need to worry about".

We think it is time for Mr. Fifer to resign.

The taxpayers of New Albany deserve a Sewer Board Attorney who is looking out for our best interest. And not his own best interest!

As it is written:

There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Eminent domain refers to the power possessed by the state over all property within the state, specifically its power to appropriate property for public use. Typically utilities, such that they can bring eminent domain actions to run telephone, power, water or gas and sewer lines.

Proceedings to take land under eminent domain are typically referred to as "condemnation" proceedings.

The Founding Fathers knew well the importance of private property in "securing the blessings of liberty." The Declaration of Independence asserts our unalienable rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

The Process of Eminent Domain

Eminent domain law and legal procedures vary, sometimes significantly, between jurisdictions. Usually, when a unit of government wishes to acquire privately held land, the following steps are followed:

* The government attempts to negotiate the purchase of the property for fair value.

* If the owner does not wish to sell, the government files, a court action to exercise eminent domain, and serves or publishes notice of the hearing as required by law.

* A hearing is scheduled, at which the government must demostrate that it engaged in good faith negotiations to purchase the property, but that no agreement was reached. The government must also demostrate that the taking of the property is for a public use, as defined by law. The property owner is given the opportunity to respond to the government's claims.

* If the government is successful in its petition, proceedings are held to establish the fair market value of the property. Any payment to the owner is first used to satisfy any mortgages, liens and encumbrances on the property, with any remaining balance paid to the owner. The government obtains title.

* If the government is not successful, or if the property owner is not satisfied with the outcome, either side may appeal the decision.

There are several types of takings which can occur through eminent domain:

The reasons for forming government in the first place: "is to join in society with others...for the mutual preservation of their lives, liberties and estates, which we call by the general name, property."

Thomas Jefferson once wrote:

The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property, and in their management. Try by this, as a tally, every provision of our Constitution, and see if it hangs directly on the will of the people!July 12, 1816

Freedom Of Speech would like to thank Senator Connie Sipes for her continue fight for restrictions and to amend Eminent Domain.

Freedom Of Speech also agrees with her public stance that with out these restrictions of these amendments means that a private developer can still declare themselves a utility and seize private property through eminent domain. She also states we need to be addressing a problem that we are having in Floyd County. This is all about protecting the rights of property owners.

footnote: Senator Sipes, Thank you for your comments they are always welcome and appreciated.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

A $5.00 service fee is to be added by the proper City or Town official to each delinquent fee, penality, and recording fee and is included in the total amount of the lien to be recorded in the County Recorder's office. The statute pertaining to this particular subject is found in IC 36-9-23-33(c).

After any delinquent fees, penalities, recording fees and services fees have been certified to the County Auditor for placing the charges upon the tax duplicate for collection, the city or town "shall not" collect these charges but they will be collected only by the County Treasurer.

Freedom Of Speech would like to say:

It's time the City of New Albany starts following the proper procedure that the State Board of Accounts has set up in collecting Delinquent Sewer fees.